


i fade into the thought of coming back to you

by yearinla



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 03:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20185708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yearinla/pseuds/yearinla
Summary: Beca stays, so Chloe has to stay too.Set during PP1.





	i fade into the thought of coming back to you

**Author's Note:**

> first published fic in nine years, wow.
> 
> thanks to [iPhone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iPhone/pseuds/iPhone) for her constant encouragement.

The Bellas’ bus is quiet. They’re three hours outside of New York City, with at least ten hours until they’re back at Barden. After spending the last ten or so hours non-stop partying in their hotel rooms, post-National Championship win, most are exhausted and sleeping off the drunk.

Chloe had ended up staying pretty sober, only a beer after they were crowned, as she wanted to make sure the group stayed safe and actually made it to the bus the next morning. She peers around the bus from her row, seeing mostly snoring girls, but Beca, sitting up with her earbuds in, catches her eye pretty quickly.

She gets up and makes her way toward Beca, sliding in next to her in the row. Beca removes an earbud and smiles over at Chloe.

“Surprised you aren’t asleep like the rest of them, Becs. You and Jesse stayed pretty close all night,” Chloe says.

Beca scoffs, cheeks turning red. “I’m surprised you aren’t asleep, you had to ‘mom’ everyone all night while Aubrey drank more than I’ve ever seen Amy drink.”

“Yeaaaah, I haven’t seen that side of Aubrey in a long time,” Chloe chuckles.

Beca smiles, “She deserved it.”

Chloe doesn’t respond, letting the silence settle between them.

After a few seconds, Beca extends the extra earbud towards Chloe, offering her a reprieve from the squeaky bus bearings they’re sitting near.

Chloe takes it and slips it in her ear, letting whatever song Beca is playing overtake her thoughts. She quickly recognizes it as a remix of Ellie Goulding’s “Lights” and can’t stop herself as she hums along.

This is nice, Chloe thinks. She likes the comfortable silence her and Beca have. When they would work on the setlist for Nationals together the past few weeks, inevitably Beca would end up engrossed in her music program, mixing and perfecting beats, Chloe trying not to stare at her as she worked through choreography in her head and sometimes around the coffee table in Baker Hall’s common room. There was no obligation to talk or fill the silence with inane small talk, which Chloe knew Beca hates anyway.

“I think I’m gonna stay,” Beca finally says.

Chloe’s hums die in confusion. “Stay?”

“Oh. Yeah, I made a deal with my dad that if I went to Barden for a year, he’d pay for me to move to LA after the school year.”

“Beca, that’s an amazing offer.”

Beca shakes her head. “I don’t think I want it, though.” Chloe watches as Beca glances around the bus. “I think I’d rather stay here with all these nerds. Y’know, try it all again next year.”

Chloe’s eyes widen. “Really? You guys could totes repeat as champs.”

“See, I think so, too!” Beca exclaims. “Just sucks we won’t have you around to choreograph.”

Chloe doesn’t say anything in response and instead looks down at their knees touching.

The song on Beca’s phone changes to "re: Stacks” by Bon Iver and Chloe can’t help but rest her head on Beca’s shoulder. She feels Beca’s body relaxing, as she rests her head on top of Chloe’s.

________________________________

Chloe slides into the small lecture hall desk as the teaching assistant hands out the test packets for her Russian Lit final. She pulls her pencil and Scantron booklet out of her backpack, filling out her name and student I.D. on the side.

After thanking the TA and grabbing her packet, she looks at the first question.

1\. What is the name of the central character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s _Crime and Punishment_?  


> a. Prince Myshkin  
b. Rodion Raskolnikov  
c. Fyodor Karamazov  
d. Porfiry Petrovich

  
Easy. She’s read _Crime and Punishment_ twice, first out of obligation for the class, and the second time because she enjoyed it so much. She moves to fill in B on her Scantron, but then- not so easy. Suddenly, Chloe is terrified of graduating. Terrified of leaving her safety net of the Barden campus, terrified of leaving the Bellas, terrified of leaving Beca.

Her mind flashes to Beca’s cobalt eyes turning to look at her on the bus back from Nationals, telling her she’s staying. Telling her how much she’ll miss her choreography and how Beca guesses Stacie will do it now. Beca’s staying and Chloe isn’t.

She fills in A.

She fills in A for every single answer on the multiple-choice part of the final.

Chloe reads through the short essay questions. She could answer any of them.

Instead, she gets up, strides to the front of the room and turns her test in, ignoring the confused glances of her peers and the raised eyebrow of the TA.

The warm spring Atlanta air hits her in the face as she steps out of the lecture hall and heads toward Baker Hall, hoping Beca has already finished her 9 am final.

________________________________

_CHLOE ANNE BEALE  
Student ID: 4059482_

_Dear CHLOE BEALE,_

_I regret to inform you that you have not received enough credits to graduate, per the terms laid out in your degree plan. _

_You received an unsatisfactory mark in the following course(s):_

_LIT 4506 - Themes in Russian Literature_

_You may repeat the course as soon as it is offered again. I suggest that you speak with your advisor immediately to form a plan of action._

_Best,_

_Thomas J. Coleman  
Dean of Students, Barden University_


End file.
